UNLV rally comes up short

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 | 10 a.m.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Colorado State coach Dale Layer called it one of the most bizarre games he had ever seen.

UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour used the term "goofy" to describe it.

Whatever phrase you want to describe the three-hour, 65-foul marathon at Moby Arena on Monday night -- surreal is another word that comes to mind -- the final result, a 89-83 overtime win by the Rams, may be one Rebels players and coaches eventually look back upon as the turning point of their season.

UNLV (10-6, 1-3) trailed by 17 points, 58-41, with 8:12 to go and the only drama remaining seemed to be whether the Rebels could extend their NCAA record of having made at least one 3-pointer in 554 consecutive games. UNLV, which shot a dreadful 20.8 percent from the field while falling behind at halftime, 30-23, was 0-for-9 from behind the arc at the time.

But junior forward Odartey Blankson (20 points, 16 rebounds, 4 steals) connected on a trey from the top of the key with 7:20 to go to cut CSU's lead to 14, 58-44. And that's when things got very interesting.

After Matt Nelson, the Rams' 7-foot junior center scored inside to boost CSU's lead back up to 16, Blankson responded by putting in a rebound as Nelson went crashing to the floor clutching his right knee.

Rams swingman Ronnie Clark then began exchanging words with Rebels center J.K. Edwards because he apparently felt Edwards had intentionally tried to hurt the MWC preseason player of the year on the play. Nelson later refuted that charge and called the injury "a freak play."

But a few moments later, Layer and Spoonhour began exchanging heated words at midcourt and had to be seperated while Nelson had to be helped off the court.

"I didn't see it," Layer admitted afterward. "I was just going on Ronnie and I got overly upset. I apologize for that and I apologized to Charlie. I should not have tried to escalate the problem."

"I like Dale," Spoonhour said. "Something like that happens ... He's trying to take care of his kids and I'm trying to take care of mine. It's nothing big."

"Coach was really into it," Rebels point guard Jerel Blassingame said afterward.

The incident, which cost the Rams (10-8, 2-3) their best player for the rest of the night, also seemed to inspire the Rebels.

"We weren't going to give up," Blassingame said. "That's what everybody was saying in the huddle ... just keep playing and we can still win this game."

Talk about your pipe dreams. The Rebels, thanks to a combination of poor shot selection and tough CSU defense, were shooting a pitiful 26.2 percent (11 of 42) from the floor at the time.

But sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers by Blassingame and Blankson in a 23-second span, UNLV went on a 12-0 run to close to within three points, 61-58, with 3:35 remaining.

Things appeared to be really bleak for a comeback win a few minutes later when both Blassingame (11 points, 6 assists) and Edwards (17 points, 8 rebounds) fouled out with 1:49 to go and Colorado State ahead by seven, 71-64.

But the scrappy Rebels again fought back and cut the deficit to 76-75 on Louis Amundson's basket with 14.7 seconds left.

UNLV quickly fouled Rams guard Shelton Johnson, who then proceeded to miss both free throws. However, Johnson rebounded his second miss and was fouled again.

Johnson, a 67 percent free-throw shooter, again missed both of his free throws. This time James Peters got the rebound for the Rebels with 11 seconds left.

Peters was then fouled on a drive to the basket with 2.8 seconds remaining and UNLV amazingly had a chance to win the game that had seemed so out of reach only seven minutes earlier.

Peters, a 54 percent free-throw shooter, swished his first try to tie it, 76-76. But he missed the second attempt and the game went into overtime.

"I thought it was going in," said Peters, a 6-foot-8 senior from Chicago. "It went in and out."

That's how close the Rebels came to sweeping the Front Range trip for the first time in school history.

UNLV had to play overtime without three key starters who had fouled out -- Blassingame, Edwards and Blankson. Amundson, who provided the Rebels with a huge lift off the bench with 15 points (7-of-7 from the floor) and six rebounds, joined the trio early in the overtime when he picked up his fifth.

The Rebels quickly fell behind 84-77 in overtime but battled back to cut the Rams lead to 84-82 on Romel Beck's 3-pointer. But CSU finally clinched it a few moments later on a drive by swingman Ronnie Clark.

"How much of a heartbreaker is it?" Peters said repeating a reporter's question. "I mean, we wanted to win. It was big for us. But we lost and that's something we have to deal with."

Still, the team's dramatic second-half comeback would seem to be a positive that it can build on the rest of the year.

"It says a lot about this team the way we came back," Blassingame said. "Everybody in here are fighters and no matter who's out there playing everybody is on the bench cheering. And that's big."

The Rebels, who played three of their first four Mountain West Conference games on the road, now return home to host New Mexico on Saturday night and red-hot Air Force on Monday night on ESPN's Big Monday.